The Brief Newsletter

Tadpoles over Japan; spiders over Brazil; frogs over Serbia, ancient Egypt and Kansas City; brown worms over Indiana; scarlet worms over Massachusetts; red worms over Sweden; snails over England; a shower of raw meat (thought to be venison or mutton) over Kentucky; blackbirds over Arkansas; eels over Alabama; snakes over Tennessee and fish over Australia, India and Honduras.

In Marksville, Louisiana in 1947, fish even fell out of a clear sky, with various species ranging from two to nine inches in length. But why does this bizarre meteorological phenomenon actually happen?

Modern Farmer tests a variety of hypotheses, including powerful tornados and waterspouts, a vortex that forms over a body of water and sucks up the water along with it, perhaps including any stray fish or frogs. “It seems very reasonable that they could be flung airborne and carried some distance away,” says University of Georgia scientist John Knox.